In a conventional image forming device, a cleaning blade contacts the surface of an endless belt body for purpose of removing toner adhered on the endless belt body. The toner that is scraped and removed by the cleaning blade is stacked on a toner stacking member. Then, the toner is supplied to a contacting part between the endless belt body and the cleaning blade as a lubricant agent. For example, see at paragraphs [0021]-[0032] and FIG. 2 of Japanese laid-open patent application publication number 2009-008904.
However, in the conventional technology discussed above, because the endless belt body is made of a soft resin as a primary layer, the specularity of the belt decreases due to surface abrasion by aging through printing so that the ability to maintain cleanliness of the belt deteriorates. Therefore, there is a problem that it is hard to reliably maintain cleanliness of the belt for a long period. Specularity refers to a property of a surface that has roughness and inclined angles. The specularity of a surface is the degree to which the surface is mirror-like. The specularity is obtained by a specific measuring equipment, such as Mirror SPOT AHS-100S of ARCHHARIMA Co. Ltd.
Considering the above drawbacks, an object of the present invention is to maintain the cleanliness of an endless belt for a long period.